River Raid

The plane is flying forward. The plane shoots. The aircraft runs out of fuel. We are watching all of this from above. All this is called River Raid. On these words, representatives of the older generation of players are kindly invited not to read what is written below, but to spend time on something more useful - on passing for the hundredth time this game, for example. For the rest ...

River Raid is one of those games that needs no introduction, odes of praise and more. This is not just some kind of “golden”, “diamond” or some other classic, it is something more, something that comes to mind among other great masterpieces when we pronounce the phrase “computer game” itself. River Raid came out on almost all the gaming platforms of its time.

The essence of the game is described in sufficient detail (surprisingly) in the first paragraph. A little more specific. We control a plane that flies over a river (sometimes with two rivers, a lake with water, in a word). His task is to bomb bridges over water, which are important for enemies. What kind of enemies - what's the difference? Perhaps this has been said somewhere, but I personally have never asked such a question. What for? It is just not necessary.

Bridges are guarded by a large number of water and air enemies, among which there are airships, airplanes, helicopters, ships and others. They shoot us, we shoot them and try to destroy. The aircraft has a limited supply of fuel, if it runs out it will be bad. Therefore, you need to refuel at special stations when we meet them. The quantity of ammunition is infinite (and if you want to destroy the same fuel station - please). If you encounter an enemy flying object or something else, the plane will always explode (but the game will not end, since we have “lives”).

With all the desire, there is nothing more to be said, and that is exactly what is good. Did the description seem boring to you, without a “twist”? If so, look at the year this game is released. It is now that we are already quite fed up with hundreds of thousands of its variants with dozens of “interesting innovations”, of which anyway none will ever surpass the original. And in 1984, such a game was, if not an absolute innovation, then at least a “trendsetter”. And this is precisely its role in history: to be an absolute benchmark in its “niche”, the one with which all other similar games are compared.

The graphics here, in my opinion, are simply charming. It is partly arbitrary, but any improvement (and there were a lot of such attempts) by any old gamer will most likely be perceived as a terrible abuse of the shrine. Yes, the prospect of the review (top view, I remind you) is not the most convenient, sometimes it’s very difficult to understand whether an enemy helicopter is above or below you, but all these arguments are from the “height” (in quotation marks!) Of today, and in those years about no one even thought about it.

There will be no result - it is needed no more than a plot. River Raid is impossible to describe, it can only be understood, to feel the whole depth of the "natural charm" of this ancient game. The answer to the question of why she was given ten points will not be given, but such a question, if it arises, after five minutes of the game should evaporate in the air by itself.